The Finance Commission of the National Assembly adopted on Tuesday an amendment to the finance bill that generalizes the rate of one euro per meal at CROUS to all students. The one-euro meal was introduced in 2020 for scholarship students and has since been extended to non-scholarship and precarious students. The amendment presented by the Ecologist and Social group generalizes it for the benefit of all students, with an estimated cost of 90 million euros per year. But its application will depend on the final approval of the finance bill by the National Assembly.
A little earlier, LFI deputy Marie Mesmeur had defended a similar amendment, but for an estimated amount of 400 million euros, recalling that “only one in four students is on a scholarship.”
The former Budget Minister opposes
For the Renaissance group, special rapporteur Thomas Cazenave opposed this measure, described as “very regressive” and “the most unfair that exists.” “Why offer a free meal to all students, regardless of family configuration and parental income?” he asked. To which the LFI deputy, Aurélien Lecoq, responded with the argument that “the principle of universality of law is a deeply republican principle and one that applies to many of our public services.” Deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy announced that the RN “will vote in favor of the one-euro food plan.”
The second special rapporteur, Charles Sitzenstuhl of Renaissance, voted against, arguing that “the prices in the Crous are social prices, even very social ones.” Which represents a “substantial effort made by the public powers and therefore the taxpayer.” Thomas Cazenave had previously explained that a meal at Crous costs “3 euros 30 for everyone, regardless of their income, and 1 euro for scholarship holders or students in a precarious situation, for a cost price of the meal that is 8 euros.”
Source: BFM TV
